Showcase your personal sound, help charity and enter our prize draw for 8330 Smart Active Monitors – all in the name of global unity and 45 years of Genelec!
Submit your trackTo take part, make a short, new and unique piece of music in any scale or chord progression that's rooted in the note G. Whatever you create, it's important to be yourself! Illuminating diverse styles, cultures and instruments is what Harmony Tracks is all about.
Your Harmony Track can be from thirty seconds to three minutes in length. Here's an example entry from Genelec's Juho Martikainen to help inspire you.
Make sure to download our Harmony Pack, which contains the brief interview questions and Harmony Tracks animation file you'll need to successfully enter our prize draw.
Download the Harmony Pack (.zip) ›Use your Harmony Track to soundtrack a video starting with the downloaded animation and concluding with photo or video material of you and your creative space.
Then, take a moment to admire your work.
Upload your Harmony Tracks video to your YouTube channel, with your interview answers, #GenelecHarmonyTracks and #Genelec45 in the description. Please check our full rules before submitting.
View the full rules ›Submit
↓At the end of 2023, we'll have a randomised lottery to select one lucky creative to win our Harmony Tracks grand prize: a pair of Genelec RAW 8330As with GLM Kit, packed in a rugged Peli Case.
Additionally, two further winners will be drawn to receive special runner-up prizes, details of which will be announced later!
We've partnered up with the global charity, Music Fund, to help provide quality instruments and support for communities in developing countries and conflict zones.
So, for every Harmony Track that's successfully submitted to us, we'll be donating €10 to Music Fund, brightening futures across the globe with the gift of music.
You can also help by donating instruments, music books and studio equipment to Music Fund via any of their European collection points. So, if you live in the region, please consider donating any suitable, working items you can - they'll make a huge difference to a musician in need!
If you live outside Europe, please check back occasionally, as we hope to provide additional options for donation throughout the year.
My name is Daniel, and I make weird music! I’m behind Scorsi and also another project called C.A.B.L.E. I do Djing, producing and engineering, mostly for dance music. I started on the drum n’ bass scene about 25 years ago, and a little bit after that I started producing. I've played guitar since I was 12 years old, and I've always had a curious mind about how music is made. That drove me find out by myself how to write, create and produce music.
I have a vast catalogue of releases in the drum n’ bass genre, and most recently, as Scorsi, I’ve done collaborations, co-production and remixes with big local artists like Alok, Tropkillaz, Anitta and Mc Lan, alongside international artists like Nghtmre and Autograf. And I’m 10x platinum for engineering on Halsey’s big hit 'Without Me'.
As a touring artist, I’ve done some of the biggest festivals and clubs in Brazil, such as Rock in Rio, Laroc Club, and Green Valley with artists like Alesso, Tiësto, Major Lazer, Diplo, Nervo and Alok. I've also had several international tours as C.A.B.L.E.
Oh, and it’s important to mention… I love food and traveling… a LOT!
I don’t have a specific routine, except for locking myself in the studio every day. What happens after that is never the same. Sometimes I’m writing melodies or just creating beats as a starter, or then I'm doing sound design and that sparks an idea. It really depends on what I’m working on, if it’s a blank canvas or if I already have vocals to work with, or even making remixes. I just look for that jump start somehow.
I wanted to try and showcase all the sides of my identity. I wanted melodies, an impactful drop, creative editing on drums and a bit of Brazilian flavour in the groove. And that is really hard to accomplish in just one piece. I started with the piano riff and began building things around that at first. Then I looked for a mood contrast to use on the drop that would still connect with the initial melody. It was definitely a challenge!!!
I went after my usual palette of sounds – what I like to use generally, the kind of textures and contracts, and different bass sounds. I then added some modern Brazilian sounds to the percussions and fills. I come from a lot of different backgrounds. I’m a metal head but also, I listened to a lot of hip hop growing up and different sub-genres of dance music. So, there’s a lot of different flavours to be mixed when it comes to using my musical inspiration, and I am Brazilian, so it’s natural to use some elements of our culture too.
Be yourself! Go after your sound, your identity. It could be with sound design or arrangement style for instance. Sometimes it might be hard to find, but it’s there. Everything you’ve done, listened to, it’s what makes you who you are, and nobody else can copy that. So trust your instincts!
I remember when I got my first pair of 8020s, around 2009. I saved up a lot, and at the time it was a big upgrade for me. I'd never used them before that. I'd seen a lot of big names and big studios using Genelecs, and I went after them because of that. The first time I plugged them in my bedroom and hit play on one of my tracks, I remember thinking "Oh God, I have to fix everything in all my songs!".
To join in with Harmony Tracks, visit https://genelec.com/harmony-tracks
I’m a full-time professional music producer, musician, live performer and content creator. I create music under the artist name LNA, and I run a YouTube channel called LNA Does Audio Stuff. I’m originally from Finland, but I’ve been living in the UK for the past 10 years. This is why my music is both a reflection of two cultures and of my journey through classical music into electronic dance music. I have a classical background from playing violin and piano, doing choirs, orchestras and classical singing throughout my childhood and teenage years. At 21, I moved to the UK and got into music production, which led me to study it all the way up to a master's degree in music production at the University of York.
My creative process is problem solving. It can start from almost anywhere, any instrument or vocals. After the initial inspiration, I try to define my goal and get into it so I can make a track I truly love. So, the aim is never to try to make “technically correct” tracks, but to find something in them that makes my heart and head feel something.
With this track, I originally worked on another version, which was nice and sounded good, but I felt it was missing something. This led me to a journey of creating around four different project files of it, which all sounded different. I added and removed things and truly crafted the track for about a month, until I found the essence of the track. I wanted it to make me feel things. After the main production was ready, I transferred it into a live performance. The live set is bit different – it doesn’t have saxophone – but I feel like it still kept its vibe and feel. I recommend anyone to listen to both and see how interesting it is to hear the same track improvised/performed live versus the fully produced track, comparing the feel of them. You can listen to the fully produced track from my YouTube channel or streaming services under my artist name LNA.
The fully produced track has five main elements: drums/bass, saxophone, strings, synth and vocals. All of these come from different cultures and genres, and I love how they blend into this one track. The drums and bass create the EDM low end, bringing a Deep House vibe. They are strong and sharp, full of rhythm and groove. The saxophone was played by my friend Sophie Russell, bringing her own expression to the song. Strings are something I always add to my tracks. As a violinist, the sound of strings reminds me of my homeland Finland and the culture of classical music. The synth on this track is from my Roland Juno, with a little pitch bending modulation, giving a hard hitting 80s vibe. Usually in Deep House vocals are heavily processed and pitch shifted. For me, it’s important to keep them natural, deep, soft, round and atmospheric. Often, I do bilingual lyrics, but this time I felt like I wanted to say this in English. I like to make the words mean something, and this track is about masking your true self, social hangovers and being appreciated for your true self.
Use this as an opportunity to find something you love. Try not to focus on expectations for yourself or others. What is it that brings you joy in music and what makes you truly feel something?
The first day I received my Genelec monitors, I cried. I made a YouTube video of the day so you can see for yourself. It was an emotional moment for me, as I felt like I was stepping up into new level of professionality in my career – big moment! Now I have created my latest four singles using these monitors (including this one), and I feel like this is a new era for me as an artist and producer.
To join in with Harmony Tracks, visit https://genelec.com/harmony-tracks
Hi! I’m Josh Cumbee - artist/producer/songwriter out of Los Angeles. I grew up here in the US listening to everything from 80s music to gospel, and the musical breadth has certainly stuck for me - I’m now lucky to work in a bunch of different genres with unbelievably brilliant humans around the world. I grew up playing keys but can usually hack through enough guitar/bass/drums/the occasional trumpet to put a record together.
Every day is different! I’m always looking for that thread of “dang I haven’t done this before” - whatever that might be. Sometimes it starts with a concept I feel like no one has tackled/done justice, working with someone who comes from a totally different background than me, or totally changing up my production/creative workflow and starting with a weird sound or instrument. No matter what, the goal for me musically is to be constantly challenged and always feeling like the dumbest one in the room!
I decided to play on the idea of “harmony” and thought about how cool it would be just to start with a vocal doing a 3rd interval rhythmically. I did a voice memo of just that, then played the first chords I could think of on my beloved Yamaha U1 directly into the phone. I decided to make those imperfect sounds the base of the track, then built around it in Studio One with more harmonic parts, which only left a bit of a song to write. Topically, I went to both the feeling I get traveling around working with humans from radically different cultures - and set that back against the personal side of when you feel like you’re in disharmony with someone and trying to bridge the gap. “Not So Different” was an interesting phrase to sing, and I kinda built around that.
I think we could all say a lot about the US, but I will say that on its absolute best days I think it is an absolute melting pot of culture and experience. Musically that is very much what I aspire to - a world without genre or predefined lines, in which influences from all over come together regardless of if it’s technically “right”. The acapella harmonic bits brought me back to some of the gospel harmony structure I loved; the drums remind me of some of the work I’ve done with artists from places like the Dominican Republic/Argentina; the piano is just everything I’ve loved about film music boiled down into something pop-forward.
Get messy! I think we can get obsessed with getting “the perfect take” or “the perfect sound” - sometimes the best thing you can do for your process is force yourself to use something suboptimal. That piano distorted on the way in? Try to keep it and embrace the vibe. That rattle from the dog shaking its head during your vocal? Maybe it’s the new snare/perc for the song. Some of my favorite sounds in songs have just been things I’ve captured on my room mic or voice memo - your creativity really is the limit if you just give yourself the freedom to “start with dumb”.
Oh yeah. I think I’ve been in love with Genelecs since my second job ever in music, which was assisting (and eventually being mentored by) the brilliant Toby Gad. He had a gigantic pair of 1038s in his studio with matched subs, when I heard one demo on those I felt like I had been missing things in music my whole life! I worked for years on other monitors with the goal of one day getting to that place, and eventually was lucky enough to finally buy my own pair of 8351’s (which I now cannot live without). I have a lot of fun toys in my studio, but those monitors probably bring me more joy than anything else!
Apple Music ›
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To join in with Harmony Tracks, visit https://genelec.com/harmony-tracks
I’m Juho Martikainen, Genelec's Brand Art Producer. Additionally, my two siblings and I represent the second generation of family entrepreneurship at Genelec, which was founded by our father in 1978.
At age 9, I started to play classical double bass, and later in life, I began playing and teaching double bass as a profession. My formal education in music is mostly classical, however, I've always enjoyed playing in bands of various genres, and recently I've been making and releasing my own solo music.
My second main instrument is electric bass, and I mess around with guitar and other stringed instruments, which I can play well enough to get my ideas flowing.
I love tweaking different sounds and effects, so usually, I find an inspiring sound that I start to experiment with. Most of the time, I have a certain visual image or emotional feeling in mind that I'll try to capture musically.
Sometimes melodies just seem to appear, and sometimes I need to work hard to create them. I use a lot of live looping techniques, which has a significant effect on the way I construct my music. I'm a big fan of minimalism – Philip Glass is a great example – so that also guides my approach to music.
I wanted to create something that connects to Genelec’s name, so I started to think about chord progressions including G, C and E chords. To make the progression more natural, I added a D chord to those three. So, the progression is G-D-e-C. To celebrate our 45th anniversary, my Harmony Track is 45 bars long for the 45 years of Genelec, and the tempo is 78 BPM, which refers to our founding year.
I would say my roots are deep in Finland's folk music, and in our national epic, the story of Kalevala. On the other hand, I believe that music is a universal thing, which to me means that there actually is no need to be cultural boundaries and limitations between us human beings. When it comes to music, we all share the same language!
Playing and especially double bass as an instrument is the most natural way for me to express my feelings and emotions.
Just let go and see where the music takes you! Be free!
I remember how nice it was to listen to music at my childhood home, where my father had designed the living room to be a perfect listening environment. I especially remember how Dire Straits' song Telegraph Road made a huge impact on me - not to mention Iron Maiden! We had Genelec’s 1022As and then later 1022Bs at our home, so in that sense, I realise I've been spoiled from the start regarding the quality of sound reproduction!
Apple Music ›
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To join in with Harmony Tracks, visit https://genelec.com/harmony-tracks
